Father, there are not enough words to express how grateful I am for Your love. And as I have said many, many times, Your love is longsuffering. The word longsuffering says so much more than patient in my heart and mind. You have suffered long but You are ever faithful, ever loving. Thank You for never giving up on me, for always believing in me.
Matthew 5:4-6 (<<click to read the passage)
I tell you, it is just as easy for me as an adult as it was as a kid…to spoil my appetite with things I probably shouldn’t have before I eat a good solid meal. I get the munchies and snack on a little of this and a little of that and then it’s time to meet Karen for lunch. It’s not good for me, but I still do it.
Lord, You proclaim in verse 6,
“God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, [righteousness] for they will be satisfied.”
That’s from the New Living Translation. Now from the Amplified Bible,
“Blessed [joyful, nourished by God’s goodness] are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness [those who actively seek right standing with God], for they will be [completely] satisfied.” (emphasis mine)
My nibbling doesn’t satisfy my hunger – neither does filling my life with tidbits from the world satisfy my “hunger and thirst for righteousness”. Honestly, it only brings me trouble.
Lord, I think we all have that hunger and thirst. Before we know You, we try satisfying those desires with all kinds of things. But everything lacks the ability to completely satisfy our appetites. Even after we enter into a relationship with You, we still have cravings for the things of which we used to partake. Even though we know they aren’t good for us, even though we know they will leave us empty and spiritually malnourished.
It brings to mind a portion of Hebrews 12:1,
“…let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”
In writing, my mind keyed on the word weight in this passage. What happens when we eat too much of the things we shouldn’t? We put on weight, right? Sin does the same thing, it weighs us down.
So, Lord, as You have been speaking to me over the last several days, help me to continue to cut out the nibbling…and I’m not talking food. Enable me to keep my focus on You.
Paul gives a good conclusion,
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8
Amen to that!
Oct 10th, 2017, Tues, 7:58 pm
